'Emotional' Kovind vows to uphold Constitution, serve marginalised people

New Delhi [India], Jul 20 (ANI): After having secured a comfortable win in the 2017 Presidential election, an emotional Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said his foremost duty would be to uphold the Indian Constitution and serve the marginalised sections of the society. Addressing the media, soon after the announcement, Kovind said his ascension to the President's office was a message for the people who work with utmost dedicational and honesty. "Thoughts of serving my country have brought me this far. My job will be to uphold and protect the Constitution," he said. "My elevation to the highest office is a message for the people who do their work with honest. I will represent the working class and poor sections of the society. This is the novelty of Indian democracy that today I am elected the President of the country," he added. National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) Kovind also congratulated his opposition Meria Kumar for her campaign during the elections. Kovind obtained 65.65 percent of votes from the electoral college. His opponent, the joint Opposition candidate Meira Kumar got 34.35 percent. "Kovind secured 2930 votes with a value of 7,02,044. Meira Kumar got 1,844 votes with the value of 3,67,314, and 77 votes were invalid," said Anoop Mishra, the returning officer for the Presidential election 2017. The presidential election on July 17 saw close to 100 percent polling. A total of 771 members of Parliament and 4,109 legislators were eligible to cast votes. The two nominees are from the Dalit community and had canvassed hard by visiting states to seek support of legislators. A lawyer by profession, Kovind has worked extensively in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Kovind has been the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Scheduled Caste Morcha chief (1998-2002) and the President of the All-India Koli Samaj. He also served as the national spokesperson of the party. The saffron party had even tired to project him as an alternative to Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh. Kovind was enrolled as an advocate in 1971 with the Bar Council of Delhi. He became the Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court in 1978 and practised in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for about 16 years till 1993. He was appointed as the Governor of Bihar on August 8, 2015. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh during the two terms of 1994-2000 and 2000-2006. Kovind served as member of the board of management of the BR Ambedkar University, Lucknow. He also served as member of board of governors of Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. Kovind also represented India in United Nations (New York) and addressed the UN General Assembly in October, 2002. (ANI)